Actually raining season is around the corner. However, thanks to the plenty riches of Ghana, I feel like I've outgrown this positive Ghana-centric "Rain in Africa"-blog. Since a little while, I have been working on a new blog and today I am moving to wordpress and to a new blogging concept (or should I say "launching"?).

You will be able to read:-More personal stories (on Me , myself and I)-More work related stories (teaching and migration research)-More critical stories -More international stories-More of my favorite reads, links and resources.

To underline that the new blog is more personal, I've decided to "do an AtoKD" and simply give the blog my name plus initials = Kajsa H.A. and the web address http://kajsaha.com

Last Friday I got a phone call. It was late in the afternoon and I was in the Accra Mall stocking up for the weekend with a friend. I had to run into a quiet place because I thought I heard something like:

...Graduate...University...Ghana....

I was right. It was my first call back from the university. The message was short.

Please bring your birth certificate on Monday.

Here I have been waiting since March last year, or at least since November when I did my presentation, to hear back, and now they are giving me a weekend's notice to produce my birth certificate. BIRTH CERTIFICATE.

Well, thanks to Sweden's excellent governmental ICT services, I was there Monday morning with my certificate. Now it looks like I might be a PhD student very, very soon.

Greetings, my people. [..] I have travelled across hills and mountains, crossing streams and rivers, big and small and lakes and forests, thick and thin. [..] I have a good story for you. In facts it is the very reason for my journey...

I remember the first time I heard of Kwame Nkrumah Acheampong...A Ghanaian man, raised in tropical Africa, who six years ago for the first time stood on a pair of skis...and now is going to compete in the Olympic games in Slalom (or downhill skiing for you who are still not familiar with snow).

Could this be for real? Can a Ghanaian ski professionally? Is it Fool's day?

My my sarcasms quickly went away as I (again) had to realize that life is so much better than fiction. Here are some other facts:

* He shares names with Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah.* Some marketing team has come up with the brilliant idea of calling him "the snow leopard".* The problem for Nkrumah Acheampong has been financial rather than physical, see my fellow blogger David Ajao's post here.*A Ghanaian government official flew to Vancouver to wish him "good luck", source Reuters.*His goal for the olympics was "not to come last"*He actually skied better than 7 others... *...Or at least skied better than one other skier as the other six were disqualified or did not finish the competition. See results here*He now wants to teach kids how to ski - in Ghana! Reuters got this wonderful quote:

"We've got the site and everything. It's just to get all the equipment, the bulldozers to level out all the rough patches, grow the grass and -- Bingo!, we're there."

What can I say, life is better than fiction, especially the life of Kwame Nkrumah Acheampong!

My friend Andreas is trying out life on a old-fashioned farm (well, minus the snow mobile and the website) in mid Sweden 7 km from nearest road and he writes beautifully about his experiences. The blog Silverjonglerier is in Swedish, but even if you can't read it I recommend it for the beautiful, snowy pictures.

The blog posts are about the daily labor at the farm, including awe for the influential older worker - "gammeldrängen", different types of firewood and work hazards - but also about the coffee breaks which we Swedes so affectionately call "fika".

It is also about a modern human being being confronted with a strict schedule, physical work and silence.

Ok, so normally, I hold a fair share of skepticism against everything signed Paulo Coelho - the bestseller writer who's recipe for happiness is to "seek the truth in the desert" (The Alchemist) - however, when I stumbled across this list on his blog (Thanks, Cris) several of its items spoke to me.

Really, how did these things ever become normal?

3] Spending years at university and then not being able to find a job.

7] Trying to be financially successful instead of seeking happiness.

9] Comparing objects like cars, houses and clothes, and defining life according to these comparisons instead of really trying to find out the true reason for being alive.

24] Using all possible means to show that even though you are a normal person, you are infinitely superior to other human beings.

40] Avoiding depression with massive daily doses of television programs.

However, it is also interesting to see that certain things are just soo tied to geographic places/cultures - eg. would this happen in Ghana?:

5] Retiring only to discover that we have no more energy to enjoy life, and then dying of boredom after a few years.

H3! In Ghana, live after 70 is sweet-o.

25] In any kind of public transport, never looking straight into the eyes of the other passengers, as this may be taken for attempting to seduce them.

Haha, seduction is a constant part of public life including transport in Ghana! Why avoid starting it?

26] When in an elevator, looking straight at the door and pretending you are the only person inside, however crowded it may be.

In Ghana, in the few elevators I've been, you'll politely say "Good morning/afternoon/evening" and then maybe chat the person up, see above!

27] Never laughing out loud in a restaurant, no matter how funny the story is.

Oh, every story is funny in a restaurant in Ghana! "Chale, serious? hahaHAHAHA!"

The shocking news reached us yesterday morning, the former president J.J. Rawlings' residence in Ridge was on fire.

Today, facts are a bit more clear:

- Nobody was hurt- Only Mrs. Konadu Rawlings and one of their daughters were at home- The ex-president was not at home, but came to the sight early in the morning- The fire started at 4 am- By 9.30 am the house was completely burned down- Three months ago, an electrical fire almost broke out in the residence- The house was a colonial style bungalow, in much constructed in wood

Immediately a debate broke out on electrical fires caused by the common fluctuations of power in Ghana. The night before the fire, it was raining heavily and a substation broke down in Tema. However, GRIDCO, the distribution company found that such a discussion was premature before a proper investigation had been carried out, see here.

As I heard the rain coming down heavily that night, I woke up and as I anticipated power to fluctuate I anxiously went to pull the plug on all computer equipment (beacuse yes, I am a computer nerd). Then I went back to sleep.

Valentine's day became a day to celebrate in Ghana first after the airwaves were deregulated and private radio channels like Radio Gold and Joy FM entered the stage around 1995.

But if Valentine's Day celebrations got to a late start, it sped up quickly and the celebration of romantic love is today widespread in Ghana!

Fellow blogger Nana Yaw writes a funny post including five stories of what high-school sweethearts go through around this time of year, like this one

Sometimes, you just didn't have the money to compete, but couldn't get her to understand. So, 1 week before the Day, you kicked up a baseless fight, and broke up. No need for presents. You waited for 5 days, and went back to you were sorry.

I hope you never had to do this artificial breakup maneuvre! Read all of Nana Yaw's Valentine stories here.

Professor Jo Ellen Fair (who I met last year) have researched the topic of Valentine's Day in Ghana and in summary says that celebrating "Val Day" is something the middle class in Ghana does to feel modern and cosmopolitan. This quote is from the conclusion of the paper "Me Do Wo: The Creation of Valentine's Day in Accra, Ghana". Find the whole paper here (pdf). or read a summary here.

Many say that the Valentine's theme of love "clicks" in Ghana. "Because love is universal, anyone in any culture can be a part of Val Day," said one young woman (interview, Feb. 10, 2002). Valentine's Day sanctions gestures and words of affection in a culture otherwise characterized by public and private reserve. Valentine's Day is "the one chance you get to tell people how you feel," said one female secondary student (interview, Feb. 5, 2002). "Valentine is wonderful. I can hold my boyfriend's hand and walk down the street," said another secondary student(interview, Feb. 5, 2002). Advocates of Val Day are insurgents for romance in aculture uncertain of the future of more practical approaches to relationships.

This morning, these inputs paved the way for an interesting discussion over breakfast with my sweetheart.Pic: Walking together on a beach early in the morning - my idea of romance! Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

This week was also not a good blogging week - what is happening to me? Well, let me tell you and at least that gives me a few days respite!

These days I teach Monday through Wednesday. It is a lot of preparation work, since I am teaching two classes that are new to me. It means all lectures, assignments, readings and handouts have to be prepared from scratch. I knew this semester was going to be heavy and truly, even though I love my work I have been very busy.

As you all know, I am also hoping to soon start my PhD at University of Ghana. The update is that my department in January arranged for supervisors and now it is up to the School of Research and Graduate Studies to officially admit me to the program. Yesterday, I was tired of waiting and wrote a letter of inquiry into the application process to involved parties. And I think that was a good thing to do, because all the three recipients were not in their offices when I came around.

Outside of work and study, I am engaging in civil society. I am a part of the Fabulous Feminists (FabFem), the Accra Book Club (ABC), the Accragio choir (but that's a different blog post, Sppp) and the Ghanaian bloggers' group Ghanablogging.com.

The FabFem met yesterday, a fun meeting as usual with young, female, fabulous, professionals with one or two things to say about feminism. Especially interesting for this meeting was that we talked about what we as a group can do for our community. I'll keep you posted. (also, a new member of the group recognized me from my blog! celebrity life, here I come!)

The ABC last month read Swedish (!) writer Stieg Larsson's book from the Millenium triology. I missed that meeting, so I look forward to saying a thing or two on Lisbeth Salander's impact on Swedish society at the ABC meeting next week. This month we are reading Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes (and hey, there's another blog post). Ghanablogging.com is meeting the week after that, but as I am the anchor of the group, every week there are things to take into consideration. People who want to join our network, have meetings with us etc. Last week my colleague Edward and I spoke about blogging at Radio Universe, University of Ghana's student run radio. At this point in time we want to spread the blogging habit or citizen media to others and are planning an event around that.

So some of you might think I decided to check out completely just because I turned 29 on Sunday.

But that is not the case. I mean, Yes, I was a bit shocked ("29, already? Wow, that means I am soon to be 30, iiiiaaaah"). Yes, I went to the beach to unwind. Yes, I had a glass of good, red wine (or two).

But my absence here has nothing to do with that and all to do with an Internet Service Provider that has painted the town red.

Literally.

Update: And I'm not the only one noticing, see Nyani's very similar post here!

a classblog for Social Theory, one of the courses I teach at Ashesi University this semester. Follow it if you want to (re)discover social and political philosophy.

Or just know what I do for a living.In the picture Socrates is emptying his cup of poison with some ironic words about that citizenship entails following state decrees, even if those decisions kills you.

A regular car that used to pay 5 pesewas is now paying 50 p, a heavier car like a pick-up or trotro which used to pay 8p now pay 1 GHC (or about 70 US cents). That is an increase of 900% and 1150%!

Since I moved to Ghana three years ago, there has not been any increase in tolls, so I guess it was long overdue. The amount can of course be discussed. At present, maintenance is minimal on motorways and highways. This means street lights rarely work, potholes sometimes resemble craters and abandoned broken-down vehicles can be found anywhere, yes even on the fast lane of the motorway! It seems clear money is needed to make roads in Ghana safer.

However, as the toll increase was published in the newspapers last week, no reason was given for it, no promises were made, no connections were made with above stated problems. We were just informed through newspaper ads that "The Ghana Road Fund under the auspices of Ministry of Roads and Highways...solicits the cooperation of Motorists to comply with payment of the new tolls at the various toll collection facilities". Information was published in newspapers, but for a 1000% increase, is that enough? I was surprised that there was little discussion about it.

Because even though, something clearly needs to be done about Ghana's roads, the effects of this increase in tolls become almost like a tax on commuting. With a congested capitol, maybe that is not the best measure... For me who commute to Accra using the Tema motorway my monthly costs is up by 18 GHC or a little less in USD. That's in a country where average monthly salary is about 160 GHC per month (1326 USD per year in 2007 according to Gapminder).

Just now, Joy FM is reporting that some people are refusing to pay and there is chaos at the toll booths at Tema motorway.

Hence, short term, this toll has made it more difficult to get to work. Still, I'm cautiously hopeful about the long-term improvements.

Pic: A trotro pays its tolls at the Ashaiman/Tema toll station last week, most likely happily unaware of the changes of today.

He gestures for me to come up on stage, "Come!" and I feel myself letting go of my handbag, barely glancing over to see if my husband takes it for me and taking a few decisive steps onto - is this happening? - the stage. Kojo Antwi helps me up and seductively holds my hand and leads me to the center of the stage. While walking he says something like "Clap for Obruni" in his microphone. The crowd starts to cheer.

The crowd? THE CROWD? Oh my! Some 1000 pairs of eyes look at me, some are clapping and selected laughters suggest that some are expecting a funny performance including a dancing obruni, but luckily stage lights are blinding me somewhat, and we start to dance.

The music is good, I am wearing comfortable shoes and my favorite dress, I am dancing with the man of Rocklyn, Afrafranto and Odo ye de sin sika and we are all in this place out of love and empathy for Haiti.

What he looked like up close, this mysterious Mr Music man? I do not remember. Was he holding my hands? I don't remember. In the moment, I just decide to myself to enjoy the song, the dance, the moment of having so many individuals' attention.

It only fully hit me much later, when the concert was over and I was congratulated by a smiling husband, a crowd of acquaintances and friends, including students at Ashesi University, that Yes, I did dance with Kojo Antwi!

DOES ANYBODY HAVE PICTURES OF THIS PERSONALLY SIGNIFICANT MOMENT? Please email to kajsahallberg -at- gmail.comThanks!

Before we headed to the Haiti Benefit Concert I mentioned here, we had dinner with some friends. One of them had heard the rumour that Kojo Antwi wouldn't come to the benefit(sadly his personal website is very heavy to load, so maybe his MySpace is a better option for you who with less fast Internet).

I was disappointed. Antwi's songs were some of the first Ghanaian pieces of music I heard when I started dating my husband back in 2002. The romantic, lovers rock style tunes in Twi/English/Ga always spoke to me - also others think he Tops the List of Ghanaian Love Songs - although some of his melodies might be just too synthesizer-sweet. Anyways.

When we arrived at the concert, there was no place to sit. "Everybody" was there to support Haiti earthquake victims. We were standing with a bunch of others on the side of the stage, dancing and enjoying from there. After an hour or so, some space opened up on the first row.

When Kojo Antwi did in fact come out on stage I felt a big smile spread across my face. As he started singing a song in Ga "Baa sumo me" (Come love me), I stood up to dance, two ladies joined him on the stage dancing, I was smiling. THEN. Mr Music Man walks over to the side where I am standing, points at me and gestures me to come on stage.

The Friends of Haiti and Ghana Red Cross has sent out a joint press release about an upcoming concert to raise funds for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

The campaign consists of a star-studded benefit concert in solidarity with the People of Haiti which will be staged at Alliance Francaise on Saturday the 23rd of January; and an SMS campaign aimed at raising GHC two million. The venue for the concert has been donated by Alliance Francaise, with all the billed artistes also performing free of charge.

Except for putting together a b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l poster, the stars performing are really stars too, Kojo Antwi, Kubolor, Kwabena Kwabena, Black Rasta, Becca, Ambolley and many more. Tickets go for 10 GHC. On top of that Foundation for Contemporary Art, will also have an exhibition in the same space where 30% of the proceeds will go to the Ghana Red Cross fund for Haiti.

To conclude, there seems to be many reasons for attending this event, out of which the noblest is of course to extend a hand to the suffering people in Haiti, but I'll be going to shake my ass just a little bit as well.

I came across some interesting information about blogging in Sweden, compiled by the Swedish research institute World Internet Institute - I wonder where similar information about Ghana could be found?

In 2009: - 400 000 Swedes had their own blog.- 6 percent of all Internet users in Sweden had blogs and 37 percent read others' blogs. - 20 percent of Internet users 16–25 years are writing or have been writing a blog and 60 percent of users in the same age group read others' blogs.

Amazingly, figures also show that a third of the group "young women" what ever that means, have at some point had a blog and that two out of three in this group read others' blogs. The overall number of 400 000 blogs is also impressive.

Two thirds of bloggers (64 %) write about everyday life, one fourth (26 %) about a hobby or special interest. Only 6 % blog on politics and 4% about work.

I don't know how I'd categorize my blog, as I feel I write on politics, special interests (blogging especially!) AND everyday life. Also I hope to blog more on work...I should maybe call it a work blog to be more unique...

On a more serious note, the World Internet Project which the Swedish research institute discussed above is a part of does not have any partner organizations in any African country! How can they then be called the "World" Internet Project? Even though there are no figures (?) for Africa and Ghana, I have the strong feeling there is room among the 44,3 million Internet users for much more blogging! (and mapping of the same phenomena!)

This people that has been through so much, why? Today, I think of my colleague with Haitian roots, my college friend from Haiti and my UN-peacekeeper friend who used to live in Port-au-Prince. I think of their friends and their families.

As I was driving to work this morning, they said on the radio that communication with Haiti has collapsed and it will take time before we know the scale of the disaster. However, at that time, I had already read a number of tweets from Haiti.

Citizen media, including blogs, video reports and Twitter are becoming more influential as sources of information these days. See Global Voices' Georgia Popplewell's early tweet-based report here , her colleague Janine Mendes-Franco later account here or problogger Dan Kennedy's extensive compilation of citizen media about the Haiti Earthquake here.

If anyone ever doubted that blogging and tweeting could go beyond navel gazing, I guess today we have evidence of the contrary.

Hopefully this access to on the ground information will also make a difference to the Haitian people.

Hosting Africa’s biggest football tournament – that is, up until the World Cup later this year – was probably a good branding move for Angola, which has made vast strides since the Angolan civil war ended in 2002. The mistake was in holding one of four sets of matches in Cabinda.

Reading the full article, it struck me how fragmented news is these days and how hard it is to get the full picture.

“We want to move the economy forward quickly and we want to try as much as possible to make an impact on the road sector, which includes city, urban and feeder roads,”

was the message from the Finance minister yesterday according to Joy FM, as he announced the government is releasing 160 million Ghana Cedis for projects that were stopped after the 2008 election.

Can I say hurray?

1. Roads for development = yes, thats the analysis! (when will power and water be on the list, by the way?)2. At the time, I supported freezing funds as there were transparency issues for some contracts, but as time went along...and business life in Ghana almost came to a complete stop I ehhr...changed my mind.3. Hopefully, this action will have a trickle down effect (although it is a long way from 25 big companies and the Kofi and Ama on the street)and might turn the Ghanaian economy around.

I challenge all the good writers I know to enter into the Summer Literary Seminars Unified Literary Contest, see a message from the organizers below:

Summer Literary Seminars is announcing its annual unified (Montreal, Lithuania and Kenya) literary contest, held this year in affiliation with Fence Magazine. We are thrilled this year to have Mary Gaitskill judging the fiction, and Mary Jo Bang judging the poetry.

Contest winners in the categories of fiction and poetry will have their work published in Fence, as well as the participating literary journals in Canada, Lithuania and Kenya. Additionally, they will have the choice of attending (airfare, tuition, and housing included) any one of the SLS-2010 programs – in Montreal, Quebec (June 13 - 27); Vilnius, Lithuania (August 1 - 14); or Nairobi-Lamu, Kenya (December).

To summarize, this contest has two really good prices, 1. publication in Fence magazine and 2. a sponsored stay at a writing workshop to develop one's skills!

The catch? It costs 15 USD to enter the contest and the deadline is just around the corner (February 28, 2010).

I went back to work, now preparing for the spring semester. I had one friend leaving town (bye Uli!) and one coming back (Hi Tuuli!). It is somehow a big relief that the holidays are over and regular life and routines are back.

But as my personal life settled down, there were some shocking news this week that I'd like to comment on.

The Nigerian TerroristAs I am sure you heard, a man was caught on board a plane from Amsterdam to Detroit, US with explosives. Some curious facts about this incident was that he was on the list of terrorists, the 550,000 names long list. I guess that list was too long, but that wasn't my point. He hid the explosives in his underpants and is therefore now called the "underpants bomber", but that wasn't my point. He was from Nigeria and started his journey in Ghana, but that wasn't my point either. Yesterday, in a discussion someone said American medias found it suspicious the terrorist bought his ticket in cash. Ha! Last time I bought a plane ticket in Ghana I t-r-i-e-d to pay with a credit card, but was refused. It seems like it is a forgotten fact that many parts of the world runs stricktly on cash. There are many other things to say about this thing, but I'll leave that to my fellow bloggers Oluniyi and Obed.

The Attack on the Togolese Soccer TeamThe African Cup of Nations that is supposed to take off tomorrow, Sunday, got to a horrible start when the Togo national team was attacked in DRC Congo on their way to Angola. The bus driver was killed and at least two players plus two other people were injured, according to the BBC. They were supposed to play Ghana for their first match, but the team do not know yet if they can play the tournament at all. This was the main discussion yesterday night and our sympathies go out to our neighbors in Togo!

Investigations into the Ghanaian Oil SectorThe first investigations (?) into Ghana's new oil sector might lead to prosecution according to the Attorney General, Betty Mould Iddrisu. Fear has been raised many times that the financial blessings that come with a big oil find, might be a curse leading to the rich getting richer...Let's see, this investigation might be good news?

Hoping for less drama next week.Pic: Closing the door to this week and stepping out into the next.

I took off for Cape Coast for a few days: new year's celebrations, bonfire, fireworks, chilled drinks, grilled fish etc., but no worries - now I'm back behind the computer.

My plan was to by the first days of 2010 move you guys over to wordpress and a stylish, crisp, new blog I have been working on there. However, as I am so stubborn I want to build it myself, along the line I messed up somewhere and am now faced with an error message instead of a fresh blog. Boo.

Still, I think the new year (and decade) has started on an interesting note for me. How has it started for you, dear reader?

Who writes this blog?

Eternal Student - and now also lecturer - from Sweden living in Ghana with my Ghanaian partner, studying migration and what it does to the higher education system in Ghana. This blog is political, positive and sometimes personal.